Buffer zone needed to protect herring

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Joe Fitzback was working at Chatham Bait and Tackle when he heard the familiar comment from customers: the big fishing boats are back.

“You can see the lights from Nauset,” he said.

For decades, people on the Cape’s backshore have seen the night glow with the bright lights of 150-foot mid-water trawlers as they work in pairs to rake up millions of pounds of ocean herring in nets the size of football fields. The disappearance of herring has damaged local fisheries that depend on the bait fish and has had ripple effects - even ecotourism has been harmed as whales lose a food source and move away.

“They come in and take all the bait,” said Fitzback, who is a captain at Cape Cod Fishing Charters. “A lot of people are very upset.”

The scene is reminiscent of the 1960s and 1970s, when enormous factory trawlers off the Cape put local fisheries in peril. The presence of those foreign fleets, up and down the coast, prompted outcry and the passage of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Then, foreign fleets were banned from coming within 200 miles of the coast. Those who are dismayed by the mid-water trawlers are advocating they be pushed not as far, but certainly farther than the three miles now required by state law. A buffer zone along the backside of the Cape could be crucial in rebuilding the local population of herring and bring the ecosystem back into balance.

Local fishermen, who have long pushed for a buffer, are hopeful that this year the New England Fishery Management Council finally will act. The problem of “localized depletion,” when the fishing stock is at risk in a certain area but not necessarily the entire ocean, is well-known. A similar buffer zone in the Gulf of Maine, instituted in 2007, is in place only for nine months a year; even so, scientists have seen marine life rebound dramatically.

Fitzback, who has a farm in Hawaii, sees “Atlantic herring” sold as fertilizer in $15 bottles 6000 miles from the Cape. He cringes at the thought of local herring so integral to our food chain being used to improve soil on a Pacific Island.

“It’s a travesty,” he said.

Fitzback isn’t the only one who finds it ironic that “local people can’t take herring. They can’t even take one. But the (trawlers) can come in and decimate a herring run.”

River herring, the cousin of the ocean herring, are intertwined with the history and the folklore of the Cape.

Herring were synonymous with spring’s return, used by residents for everything – even their scales were turned into jewelry. Harvesting them was a way of life for many, but not anymore.

The mid-water trawlers target ocean herring but they are legally allowed to take dozens of metric tons of river herring as bycatch, and that number has increased in recent years.

The Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance is making a concerted effort to reach out to town officials and community groups to support a buffer zone for mid-water trawling, and has already earned the support of environmental organizations such as the Association to Preserve Cape Cod.

A pivotal meeting of the fishery council is coming up in December and in the spring the council will not only be making a decision on a buffer zone, but also address calls to set catch limits that take into account herring’s role in the entire ecosystem.

These fish are far more than an economic resource to harvest they are key to the Cape’s sustainability.

Joe Fitzback was working at Chatham Bait and Tackle when he heard the familiar comment from customers: the big fishing boats are back.

“You can see the lights from Nauset,” he said.

For decades, people on the Cape’s backshore have seen the night glow with the bright lights of 150-foot mid-water trawlers as they work in pairs to rake up millions of pounds of ocean herring in nets the size of football fields. The disappearance of herring has damaged local fisheries that depend on the bait fish and has had ripple effects - even ecotourism has been harmed as whales lose a food source and move away.

“They come in and take all the bait,” said Fitzback, who is a captain at Cape Cod Fishing Charters. “A lot of people are very upset.”

The scene is reminiscent of the 1960s and 1970s, when enormous factory trawlers off the Cape put local fisheries in peril. The presence of those foreign fleets, up and down the coast, prompted outcry and the passage of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Then, foreign fleets were banned from coming within 200 miles of the coast. Those who are dismayed by the mid-water trawlers are advocating they be pushed not as far, but certainly farther than the three miles now required by state law. A buffer zone along the backside of the Cape could be crucial in rebuilding the local population of herring and bring the ecosystem back into balance.

Local fishermen, who have long pushed for a buffer, are hopeful that this year the New England Fishery Management Council finally will act. The problem of “localized depletion,” when the fishing stock is at risk in a certain area but not necessarily the entire ocean, is well-known. A similar buffer zone in the Gulf of Maine, instituted in 2007, is in place only for nine months a year; even so, scientists have seen marine life rebound dramatically.

Fitzback, who has a farm in Hawaii, sees “Atlantic herring” sold as fertilizer in $15 bottles 6000 miles from the Cape. He cringes at the thought of local herring so integral to our food chain being used to improve soil on a Pacific Island.

“It’s a travesty,” he said.

Fitzback isn’t the only one who finds it ironic that “local people can’t take herring. They can’t even take one. But the (trawlers) can come in and decimate a herring run.”

River herring, the cousin of the ocean herring, are intertwined with the history and the folklore of the Cape.

Herring were synonymous with spring’s return, used by residents for everything – even their scales were turned into jewelry. Harvesting them was a way of life for many, but not anymore.

The mid-water trawlers target ocean herring but they are legally allowed to take dozens of metric tons of river herring as bycatch, and that number has increased in recent years.

The Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance is making a concerted effort to reach out to town officials and community groups to support a buffer zone for mid-water trawling, and has already earned the support of environmental organizations such as the Association to Preserve Cape Cod.

A pivotal meeting of the fishery council is coming up in December and in the spring the council will not only be making a decision on a buffer zone, but also address calls to set catch limits that take into account herring’s role in the entire ecosystem.

These fish are far more than an economic resource to harvest they are key to the Cape’s sustainability.